With a little help from your friends
by MzDany
Summary: Sometimes, even a mighty Thunder Ninja Power Ranger can feel a little overwhelmed...Slash CamHunter


_**With a little help from your friends**_

**By Dany**

PG-13

"Hunter Bradley! Wake up!"

Hunter jerked and his eyes flew open. _Damn, I fell asleep again?_

He lifted his head from his desk, looking up into the frowning face of Mrs. Watson, his English teacher. He sat up quickly.

"Sorry, ma'am," he mumbled, trying to sound more awake than he actually was.

Mrs. Watson shook her head. "Sorry doesn't cut it anymore, Hunter. This is the third time this week. I'd like to see you after class, please."

Hunter nodded resigned. He rubbed his eyes and glanced around the room quickly. Every student was looking at him, some frowning, some smirking.

"_Idiots_," he thought, "_none of you have any idea_..."

Hunter put on his 'tough guy' face and ignored them all, pretending to listen to Mrs. Watson who had returned to her desk and was now droning on about the 'Canterbury Tales'. 14th century English poetry. No wonder he had fallen asleep.

Despite the boring topic, he managed to make it through the rest of the class without dozing off again. When the bell rang, he took his time packing his bag-pack. Finally the class was empty save for Mrs. Watson.

Warily he approached her desk. The teacher was scribbling something on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Here. Your homework assignment. I didn't see you writing it down when I announced it earlier."

He accepted the paper wordlessly. Mrs. Watson leaned back in her chair, looking at him.

"Hunter, I normally don't pry into the private lives of my students," she began, "but your obvious exhaustion and your slipping grades simply can't be ignored anymore." The teacher's voice was firm, but her eyes were warm, empathetic. "Is there anything you would like to talk about? You _can _talk to me, you know."

Hunter was already shaking his head. "I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Watson, but I can handle it." He glanced at her. "I've just had a lot on my plate lately, that's all. It'll get better."

'_Fat chance of that, though,'_ he added in his mind.

Lothor had been quite industrious lately, sending monsters and kelzaks with ever increasing frequency, and the Rangers had been constantly busy battling his abominations. They all complained about it, but for Blake and Hunter, this increased activity was turning into a real problem. Between school, homework, Ranger training, monster battles and working at Storm Chargers, there was hardly time to sleep anymore. And then there was that other, ever-growing problem...

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?" Mrs. Watson was saying, pulling him back from his reverie.

"Less homework?" he said with a crooked grin. Mrs. Watson just looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

Hunter shrugged, trying to look more casual than he felt. "I work down at Storm Chargers Bike Shop after school. Maybe I've just been putting in too many hours lately. I'll cut back there, that'll give me more time to study," he said vaguely.

"Sounds like a good idea," Mrs. Watson nodded. "You are so close to graduating, Hunter, you should re-arrange your priorities."

Hunter kept up his poker face while he nodded, seemingly in agreement. _Too bad your priorities aren't the same as mine._

As he turned to leave, Mrs. Watson called after him. "Hunter." She nodded towards the piece of paper he was still holding. "Try not to forget this time, ok?"

"I won't." _Hopefully!_

**_Later that night..._**

Friday night, but Hunter wasn't partying. Far from it.

_Off as pilgrims people long to go._

_Palmers to set out for distant strands_

_And foreign shrines renowned in many lands._

_And especially in England people ride_

_To Canterbury from every countryside_

_To visit there the blessed martyred saint_

_Who gave them strength when they were sick and faint._

Geoffrey Chaucer's words blurred before Hunter's eyes. _This isn't English, it's Martian!_

Barely two pages into the Canterbury Tales, and he was already sick of it.

How was he ever going to write a comprehensive summary of this stuff in...Hunter glanced at his watch: 12.42am...the next three or four hours?

He looked at the closed door of their bedroom. Blake had been asleep for hours already.

The motocross race he and Blake had signed up for was scheduled for nine a.m. Saturday morning, and he needed at least a _few_ hours of sleep if he wanted to win this.

And victory it had to be. They needed the prize money.

Hunter sighed. What had happened to the good old days of racing just for fun?

For the past few months, he and Blake had been competing in races every weekend. They had an advantage, of course, being hat there were the two of them, but even those few wins hadn't been able to cover their mounting expenses.

The tired Crimson Ranger looked around the tiny living room of their one-bedroom apartment. He hated this place. It was old, run-down, with threadbare carpeting, peeling wallpaper, ancient appliances (the few that worked), and worn-out furniture.

'_It wasn't worth the rent we were paying, even before that bastard raised it,' _Hunter thought grimly. Two weeks ago their landlord had knocked on their door and unceremoniously informed them that as of Friday, rent would be up forty percent.

A few days after that, Kelly, his boss at Storm Chargers, had told him that due to the slow flow of business, she was forced to cut his hours at the shop. At least she had looked apologetic about it.

But money was tighter than tight right now. Actually, it was virtually non-existent.

With another sigh, he got up from the scarred table and shuffled into the kitchenette to get another Red Bull. He had virtually been living off this stuff lately.

**_Training..._**

"Hunter, throttle your speed," the figure at the computer terminal was typing furiously.

"In a second," came the disembodied voice into his headset.

"Get your nose up, man, you're coming in too steep."

"Relax, Cam, I know what I'm doing."

"Apparently not, you are...PULL UP!"

The response was a garbled curse, followed by the display of the Crimson Ranger's Glider going down in flames on Cam's computer screen. Cam ripped his headset off and flung it onto the keyboard.

"Computer, end simulation."

He swiveled around in his chair, looking across the control room in Ninja Ops, where the object of his frustration was sprawled out on the floor.

Hunter pounded his fist on the ground. "I almost had it!"

"No, you didn't, Hunter, you died." Cam sighed deeply. "Maybe if you actually _listened _to me every now and then..."

"Aw, come on, it was just a simulation, ok?" Hunter was peeling himself off the floor. "I'll get it right next time."

"Let's make that right now," Cam turned, already reaching for his headset again.

"Later," he heard the Crimson Ranger's irritated voice behind him.

Cam spun around again, his patience wearing thin. "No, we'll do it now."

But he only caught the last glimpse of Hunter's back retreating up the stairs. The Thunder Ninja had already left the command center.

Startled, and a bit disquieted, Cam stared at what was visible of the now empty stairway.

_What was wrong with Hunter lately?_

With a resolute push, Cam got up from his chair. _High time to find out!_

**_The talk..._**

He found him in the forest by the pond, right outside the holographic portal.

Hunter was leaning against a tree, moving only every now and then to skip a stone across the pond's surface. He was definitely distracted, because he actually _jumped_ when Cam walked into his field of vision.

"Wow, that's a new one," Cam said. "Didn't think I could actually startle you."

"Well, congratulations, you did," the Thunder Ranger answered brusquely.

Ignoring the blond man's snideness, Cam planted himself firmly in front of him, arms folded in front of him.

"You want to talk about this?" The green Samurai Ranger came straight to the point. "You've crashed so many gliders during simulations lately that I'll be forced to deactivate the transformer on your bike during a real battle."

Hunter cast him a dark look. "Don't do this, Cam!"

Cam was not intimidated. "I will if you don't straighten out." Then his voice softened. "Or at least tell me what's been wrong with you lately."

Hunter shrugged, trying to look cool. "I haven't been sleeping well lately, that's all."

"You sure?" Cam said sarcastically, "because it sure didn't look like that to me the other day."

Hunter's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"I found you asleep in the practice room, for crying out loud."

Hunter actually looked almost embarrassed "I was trying to meditate...I didn't know you saw me." Suddenly, embarrassment gave way to defensiveness. "Then why didn't you wake me up?"

"You looked like you needed your sleep." Cam replied simply.

"I also need my training."

"What good is training if you're too tired to do it right?" Cam retorted.

Hunter had no answer to that, so he settled for a silent glare.

"Hunter," Cam was done with beating around the bush. "What's going on?"

"I kinda have a lot on my mind, all right?" Hunter said evasively.

"Like what?" Cam wasn't letting this go.

"You're really nosy, you know that?" Hunter snapped, but Cam just looked at him, waiting.

Finally Hunter let out a capitulating sigh. "I've decided to drop out of school."

"And where did that ludicrous idea come from?" Cam couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You are...what, six months away from graduating?"

Hunter wasn't meeting his eyes. "A few days ago, someone said something to me about 're-arranging my priorities'. And that's what I'm going to do."

"But moving high school to the bottom of your priority list?" Cam shook his head incredulously. "Lothor's buffoons must have kicked you in the head a few too many times."

Hunter was waving his hands before him in frustrated circles. "It's just too much, Cam. I mean, school, homework, tests, Ranger training, protecting earth from Lothor, working at the bike shop..." The look Hunter gave Cam was almost pleading. "Something's gotta give."

Black eyes locked onto blue. "But don't let it be school."

"But there's nothing else I _can_ drop." Hunter raked his hands through his hair. "I can't quit being a Ranger; I might as well quit breathing. It's who I _am_. I can't cut down on Ranger training, because if I do, then next time Lothor attacks I might end up getting killed by Chooboo, of all freaks. I can't quit at Storm Chargers, because Blake and I need the money. I can't quit racing, because..." Hunter stopped abruptly, realizing that he had rambled on too much.

Too late.

"Because...?" Cam pressed, looking at him intently.

Later, Hunter couldn't recall whether it was that look that turned out to be the straw that broke his back, but break he did.

Before Cam's eyes, Hunter suddenly seemed to deflate. His shoulders sagged. Leaning heavily against the tree, he let out a long, shuddering breath and slid down along the trunk, plopping onto the ground.

Surprised as he was, Cam nonetheless sat down next to him and waited, sensing that Hunter was finally ready to unload whatever was bothering him.

"We need the cash from those winnings to supplement our incomes," he admitted.

Cam opened his mouth to speak, but Hunter was faster. "You don't pay any rent to your dad for living at Ninja Ops, do you?" he asked softly, finally looking at Cam.

"Aehm...no." Cam cocked his head at this unexpected question.

"Well, we do, and our rent for that flea-ridden dump we live in just got raised. And then a day later Kelly tells me she has to cut my hours at the shop. Things like that would mess with your sleep, too, man."

"Then why don't you look around for cheaper places to live?" Cam argued.

Hunter barked a short, humorless laugh. "We did! But we need something that's at least partially furnished, because we can't afford to _buy_ furniture, and you know what we found out? That in that category, our landlords' holes in the walls _are_ the cheapest places around."

Hunter was just warming up. "Oh, and remember when we battled that shark-looking freak a few weeks ago? The one that broke three of my ribs?"

"Of course I do." Cam nodded, keeping his face neutral, but inwardly he winced at the memory of Hunter on the ground, face contorted in pain. The kick from the monster had been vicious enough to de-morph him instantly. It was a miracle he had only suffered _three_ broken ribs.

"Well, guess what? Kelly doesn't offer health benefits at Storm Chargers. The bill from the emergency room came out to almost five hundred dollars. It'll be a few more months before I've got that paid off."

Cam wasn't sure what to reply, and Hunter didn't give him a chance to, either. "We even thought about selling our bikes, but they are our only means of getting around, and to get to Ninja Ops." Hunter picked up another stone and flung it out into the pond. "But that might just be what we have to do. Guess we'll just have to take the Beetlezord to school from now on."

"I thought sarcasm was supposed to be my specialty," Cam said dryly.

"I guess you're starting to rub off."

"I hope not."

Cam was staring straight ahead at the holographic waterfall. He was silent for quite a while, and when he finally looked at Hunter, his expression was dead serious. "There is a spare bedroom at Ninja Ops. It was supposed to be dad's room, but he obviously isn't using it, so you two could move in there."

Hunter's eyebrows arched in surprise, but then he chuckled. "You're asking me to move in with you? Don't you think that's a little too soon? After all, I've only kissed you a few times so far." He grinned mischievously.

Cam's cheeks actually turned pink. "First of all, it would be _Blake_ and you moving into Ninja Ops with _Dad_ and me," he said quickly, deliberately ignoring Hunter's last remark.

Hunter's grin faded. "I don't want charity, Cam."

"It's not charity, Hunter." Cam replied. "Matter of fact, I think it would be beneficial for all of us. With everything Lothor's been throwing at us lately, it would be good to have you two close at hand, so the three of us can be ready at a moment's notice when trouble starts again." Cam was trying hard to convince himself of that.

Hunter cocked his head. "Three right away is better than six too late," he concurred. "But it will definitely be interesting living with you," he added after a moment, the corners of his mouth turning upwards once again.

"Yeah, same here," Cam muttered. He rose and looked towards the waterfall. "I'll go talk to dad right now. But I'm sure he'll be ok with it."

Hunter pulled himself up as well. "And I'll talk to Blake."

"One condition, though." Cam pointed a finger at him. "No dropping out of school."

Hunter grinned at Cam's attempt to look stern. "OK."

The two young men had walked only a few steps side by side, before Hunter suddenly put a hand on Cam's shoulder. "Hold up, there's one more thing..." Cam stopped.

"Thanks." And Hunter's mouth gently closed over Cam's. Warm and soft, Hunter caressed Cam's lips with his, and Cam's eyes fluttered closed.

Several weeks after their fateful first kiss in Ninja Ops' training room, their somewhat odd relationship was still in its infancy, but Cam had done a lot of thinking since then. His offer of having Hunter living at Ninja Ops was a bold move, dangerous even, but surprisingly, he found himself liking the idea. Now he carefully leaned into the kiss, not too much, indulging himself in a moment of nothing but blissful enjoyment before he pulled away.

Hunter was grinning again. "Yup, definitely gonna be interesting."

'_That's an understatement.'_ Cam thought as they resumed their walk through the holographic waterfall, and Ninja Ops.

**_Epilogue..._**

Several days later, from his meditative spot by his pagoda, Sensei was looking out over a very domesticated scene playing out in Ninja Ops' control room.

Cam was in his customary position in front of his computer terminal while Hunter was sitting on a cushion at the low command table in the middle of the room, nose buried in a school book. Both of them were working in companionable silence. Next to Hunter was his boom box, volume set to low, playing an unfamiliar tune. Earlier, Sensei had caught a glimpse of the artist on the CD cover; Mary J. Blige.

Definitely not _his_ style of music, and as far as he knew, neither was it Cam's, but his son had not complained about it. Sensei had a feeling that he wouldn't either.

When Cam had approached him, telling him about the offer he had made Hunter and Blake, Sensei had been surprised, but agreed to it immediately. And so far it had been a good move, if one overlooked the fact that the contents of Ninja Ops' refrigerator had suddenly increased, as if by magic, to include ice cream, frozen pizza, and other sugar-rich, nutrient-poor foods.

Preconditioned by a lifetime of virtually living on top of each other, Blake and Hunter had settled into the small guest room fairly quickly, and immediately set out to help with the domestic chores around the cave; even helping Cam clean the entire Zord Bay from top to bottom yesterday.

In strict confidence, Cam had also told him about the brothers' financial difficulties, and it now seemed that, with no more rent to pay and therefore also no pressure to win any more races, the two Thunder Rangers were slowly starting to relax.

Now Hunter put the book down, rose and stretched. His gaze flickered towards Sensei's pagoda. Not wanting to give his new tenant the feeling that he was being observed, Sensei quickly closed his eyes.

Hunter disappeared into the kitchen, only to return a minute later with two soda cans.

Out of hooded eyes, Sensei watched him saunter over to Cam's computer terminal. Sensei hadn't heard Cam _ask_ for any soda, but his son accepted the beverage without question. Not typical Cam-behavior, Sensei noted.

"Watcha doing?" Hunter asked, one hip casually propped against the desk.

Cam gave him a scrutinizing look. "You really want to know?"

"Sure."

Cam pointed at the big screen, which was completely filled by schematics. "I've been working on upgrading the pneumatic pressure regulators on the Dolphin Zord. See, when Tori attaches it to the Megazord, the hydraulic circuit connectors are too sluggish, so what I'm trying to do..."

Sensei was puzzled. Hunter wasn't even looking at the screen, he was looking at _Cam_.

Cam finally noticed that, too. "Are you even listening?"

Hunter regarded him with a lopsided grin. "No, not really."

"Then why did you ask me?"

"Actually, I wanted to..." Suddenly Hunter's head turned into Sensei's direction. Sensei instantly resumed his close-eyed, meditative position again.

"Think he's asleep?" he heard Hunters voice, more muted now.

Cam: "He hasn't moved for the last hour. Either that, or he's in a meditative trance. Why?"

"So he can't hear us?"

The lack of verbal answer to the Thunder Ninja's question made Sensei assume that his son had either shrugged or shaken his head. Whatever the silent answer was, it was obviously enough for Hunter. "I wanted to ask you if you feel like catching a movie down in the city. My treat."

There was something in Hunter's voice, Sensei noticed. A subtle undertone he couldn't quite place. _Something is going on here_, Sensei thought. His human form might have suffered, but not his parental intuition.

Carefully, he cracked one eyelid into the direction of the two young men again.

Cam was looking up, Hunter was looking down, eyebrows raised in invitation.

"Shouldn't you be finishing homework?" Cam wanted to know.

Hunter pretended to look thoughtful. "Hmm, let's see: Canterbury Tales versus Lord Of The Rings. That decision looks pretty clear to me."

"But don't you have to turn in your assignment by tomorrow?" Ever-righteous Cam.

"I'll do it later, after we get back." Hunter waved the question aside. "I need a break; this stuff is so dry I need a whole lot more sodas just to make it through the next few pages."

"Dry?" Cam exclaimed. "The Canterbury Tales are a masterpiece of classical literature."

"To you maybe," Hunter grimaced. "Me, I'm just learning this stuff by heart for the sole purpose of reciting it to Lothor next time we battle him, and if I'm lucky, it's gonna bore him to death." Hunter straightened up and raised his arm in a theatrical drama pose.

"_And thus the world was saved by the Canterbury Tales!"_

Cam snorted. "If the fate of the world lies in the hands of Hunter Bradley's ability to recite classic poetry, then I've got a whole lot more upgrading to do."

The two Rangers grinned at each other, and Hunter cuffed Cam playfully on the arm. "Come on, we can upgrade and study later. Movie first."

Cam didn't think long about that at all. "All right." He shoved his chair back.

They walked towards the stairway together, just a little too close.

Suddenly, Hunter's arm shot out and encircled Cam's waist for the briefest of moments.

Cam never even pulled away. "But I'm buying the popcorn," he said instead.

"With lots of butter."

"They don't even put real butter on it anymore, Hunter. It's all just flavored oil."

"Hey, as long as it tastes like butter..."

Their voices receded up the stairs, leaving a flabbergasted Sensei behind.

_Two men who were just friends didn't hug each other's waists!_

Sighing, Sensei closed his eyes again, this time trying to meditate for real.

Cam was _samurai_, and certainly old enough to make his own decisions. And if he thought that there was something going on that he deemed important enough to tell his father, then he undoubtedly would do so.

_Wouldn't he?_

THE END


End file.
